The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-06-11
send you to the seashore in the
summer If he has to mortgage his
dress suit to pay the bill.


1 ~e~~~ OO~S w NsSy WIZ O~AA'
The Rights to Open . Wifs's letter.
The latest question in social
economies which is agitating the
country touches the right OF
husbands to open their wives let
tiers. The discussion began in
France few months ago, and has
since been transferred to this coun-
try. In st. Louis it has become such
a social sensation that the Dispatch
Of that city prints three columns of
interviews with a score or more of
prominent matrons, setting forth
their opinions on this mOmentous
topic. AS might be expected, the
views of the matrOns are largely
colored by their dispositions. Some
express themselves lovingly and
dutifully, others satirically and
savagely, as if they had unpleasant
experiences in the matter of letter
opening but all of them agree on
one point-namely: that the hus-
band probably has the right to
open his wife's letters, but if he
does so he is just as mean as he
can be and perfectly horrid.
Undoubtedly the ideal marital
situation is one in which the mu-
tual confidence is so strong that
neither party would object to the
other opening his or her letters, in
which case no question of right
would present itself. But as this
condition rarely exists the subject
is open to discussion. If the NUT
ual correspondence is safe and in
nocent, nothing is gained by the
right to open letters. If it is not,
is anything gained by it? Where
ignorance is bliss, it is not folly to
be wise. 1t certainly does not tend
to enhance ones happiness to dis
cover through letters that some
thing is going wrong, and to learn
the very thing that you did not
wish to know. Moreover, it is pos
sible that letter might be perfect
ly innocent and yet bring about a
serious misunderstanding by hast
lily jumping at conclusions. There
are letters also which would inevi-
tably lessen mutual respect though
they hight not contain anything
improper. 1t certainly would not
be pleasant for a wife to discover
her husbands peccadilloes before
marriage, which might come out in
a letter from an old chum, nor for
husband to discover his wife's
ante-marital vanities, flirations, and
conquests, all of which she of
course has now given up. 1t isn't
necessary that letter should be a
compromising one to make mis-
chief. People have such a fatal
faculty for saying and doing the
wrong thing on paper and making
white appear black that the most
innocent letter imaginable may be
tortured into something wrong
The records of breach of promise
and divorce cases show how thor
oughly asinine people are when
they commit themselves TO ink and
paper as method of expressing
themselves. There are cases also
where a wife may receive conf
dences from her relatives and
friends which the husband could
not understand and which. she
might not be at liberty to explain,
vice versa.
The eternal fitness of things
would suggest that it is better for
husbands and wives to let each
others letters alone. 1t will save
them from many disagreeable ex-
periences and will preserve the con-
tidential intercourse which should
prevail in every household. The
surest way to bring about this re-
suit would be to have mutual un-
Outstanding that both husband and
wife are at liberty to each others
letters. In that case neither would
care to avail themselves of the priv
ilege. 1t is one of the contrarieties
of human nature not to do the thing
you are allowed to do. If you are
not permitted to do a thing you
are at once seized with a perverse
and insane desire to do it. Had
Eve been allowed to eat the apple
she never would have touched it..
The serpent knew human nature
only too we'll when it tempted her
to eat forbidden fruit. 1t was
probably the poorest stuff in the
garden, but it was enough for her
to know she must not touch the
apple. She needed no further induce
ment to pull the apple of, MUNICH
it down, and persuade her equally
perverse but less forward companion
to join in the unlawful repast. A
frank concession Of the right to
open letters would be the surest
way Of processing unbroken seals
Among the st. Louis matrons, one
of them, Mrs. AL. Carr, expressed
herself in the following fashion:
"I'm like the Frenchman when
he heard the bank had failed: eli
re monte vas zere he did not want